Gartner as employer

Working at Gartner: Our team stands for innovation – since 1868

In 1868, 150 years ago, Gartner was founded as a small steel workshop in Gundelfingen on the River Danube (Bavaria, Germany). Since 2001 the company is part of Permasteelisa, an Italian group of companies, and thus becoming one of the largest and leading curtain wall manufacturers worldwide. This bi-directional background shapes the way Gartner presents itself as an employer – combining the advantages of a family business with modern management as well as individual advancement and development opportunities of a group of companies. At Gartner, tradition and modernity do not preclude each other, but go hand in hand.

Josef Gartner GmbH was founded back in 1868 and is now realizing façade projects on a worldwide scale as a part of the Permasteelisa Group.

Ambitious projects

To work at Gartner means to cooperate in technologically challenging projects all over the world. The diversity of the Gartner projects is reflected in the broad variety of different work tasks carried out by the company’s workforce. At the project management level, the employees will always have to respond to new challenges, thereby increasing their knowledge. They became part of interesting building projects with a constant input of their skills and competencies. Working at Gartner is far from monotonous. This is also the case for other departments such as design and procurement. For the production staff, this also means to be part of high-tech projects far from any mass production because at Gartner you will still find real handicraft: All of the façades are customized and unique, they are not mass-produced. Our staff therefore need to be technically skilled and continously strive for highest quality. At the same time, this also means to participate in an active work process.

In the showroom at our Gundelfingen headquarters, visitors will be fascinated by a selection of extraordinary façade elements from Gartner building projects – such as an element of the „Dancing Towers“ (Tanzende Türme in Hamburg,Germany).

Flat hierarchies and harmonious working atmosphere

Gartner – a company with fine tradition – is characterised by flat hierarchies. Due to short decision-making processes, the staff can still participate significantly in the development of the company. If somebody has a good idea, he can directly present it to his superior. Co-ordination and agreement processes are thus less time-consuming and the team can make good progress and get on well with their project.

Working atmosphere among the employees is harmonious and familiar. We solve problems together and we also celebrate achievements and success together. A lot of employees at the Gundelfingen headquarter originate from the surrounding cities and villages and they know each other privately. It therefore happens that you may meet several generations of one family working in our company. Furthermore, employees readily engage in recruiting new staff thereby confirming Gartner’s good reputation as an employer. For new international colleagues the familiar atmosphere helps to make friends easily and to get in touch with our Bavarian traditions such as the famous “Weißwurstfrühstück” – Bavarian veal sausages for breakfast.

Work environment

Starting as a Gartner employee – whether in the design, project management, production or in one of the support departments – you will be welcomed by the chairman of the Works Council and visit our company premises. This enables you to meet all the employees of the many divisions of the company. Working at Gartner means to work together with your colleagues in a familiar and team-oriented atmosphere.

Apart from the different opportunities to go out for lunch in Gundelfingen, our company’s cantine offers three to four different dishes at a low price including dishes for vegetarians. You can take a break while relaxing on our green areas. The Gartner lake, at a distance of a few metres from the factory premises, as well as the surrounding nature invite to take a bath or to jog. Festivities and excursions are also part of working life. As a yearly routine, all employees gather at the Christmas party listening to the Gartner band, a group of musically gifted employees. Other activities encompass „company runs“ and „soccer cups“ where several teams compete with each other.

At the company’s summer festival, goblets were given as prices after the soccer cup – all of those goblets have been manufactured by the apprentices of Gartner. At the cantine, the employees meet and have lunch – apprentices and management alike.

Development & Management

Professional development and empowerment is an integral part of human resources management of the curtain wall manufacturer. Gartner provides employees with professional development according to their individual competencies and skills. This implies that instead of standard programmes, all development measures are tailored to the personal background and needs of the employee. By and by, many employees have grown with the business. In fact, former apprentices are now working as project managers for building projects all over Europe and North America while other employees come from foreign business sectors or have started as a trainee. Furthermore, Gartner offers a range of possibilities for foreign assignment all over the world. The main subsidiaries and offices are located in Switzerland, Great Britain, United States, Russia and Hong Kong. Visits at the building sites or meetings with the architects also involve travelling around the world.

Our principles for management and cooperation:

We are target-oriented and our clear demarcation of responsibility allows optimum decision-making at all levels.

We expect our employees to act independently and take on responsibility.

We demand from our employees a high level of quality in the design, planning and delivery of our activities.

We provide professional development tailored to our specific requirements.

We reflect on our actions, identify potentials for improvement and implement these.

We trust our employees and treat them fairly.

We value performance and exercise constructive criticism.

We deal with conflicts openly and resolve them on a partnership basis.

We provide guidance and direction for our employees and inspire them to work toward the common goal.

Apprenticeship

At Gartner, education and training of young people is of utmost priority. In September 2014, twenty-two young people have entered a new phase of life and started apprenticeship at Gartner amounting to a total of 70 apprentices by the end of 2014. Students with integrated degree programmes (“dual students”) als well as trainees are part of the Gartner workforce.

Gartner engages in the training of industrial clerks, design draftsmen and construction mechanics.

Gundelfingen – A worth living diversity on the River Danube

Gartner has its headquarter in the idyllic Gundelfingen on the River Danube.

The city of Gundelfingen is characterized by its central position between Ulm/Neu-Ulm and Augsburg, its closeness to the highways A7 and A8 and its accessibility to public transportation with the railway station next to Gartner. Overall, Gundelfingen offers a well-developed infrastructure.

Gundelfingen and surroundings offer a broad cultural diversity.

Various castles, e. g. the Fuggerschloss, Roman temples, museums such as the Steiff Museum and historic town centers, are just some of the leisure facilities in the surrounding area.

Also Gundelfingen and surroundings are characterized by a well-developed infrastructure.

Gundelfingen provides a couple of medical practitioners, kindergartens and other educational institutions such as a primary school and a high school. There are different shops where you can cover your daily and periodical demand. In the neighboring place Lauingen on the River Danube is also a primary school, a high school, a secondary school, a professional school, different shops and a hospital in the city of Dillingen.

Furthermore there are different local recreations and destinations in the surroundings.

For example the LEGOLAND Germany in Günzburg, the puppet theatre “Augsburger Puppenkiste”, the Augsburg zoo and botanical garden, a golf course in Dillingen, a waterski and wakeboard funicular, as well as public swimming pools and bathing lakes to swim in summer and to ice skate in winter.

The region around Gundelfingen on the River Danube offers you: high standard of living for adequate living costs.

If you want to learn more about Gundelfingen and surroundings you can visit the following websites: